There have been a number of electronically actuated keyboard musical instruments wherein the actuation of the individual keys of the keyboard is accomplished by the action of an individual solenoid. In the past, these solenoids have been mounted in rack assemblies but these assemblies have been somewhat complex, with the individual solenoids being difficult to remove and/or adjust. A typical mounting rack for electrical solenoids of the prior art is illustrated in Von Gunten U.S. Pat. No. 3,405,584, Del Castillo U.S. Pat. No. 3,709,085, and Severy et al U.S. Pat. No. 1,196,401; there are, of course, a number of other disclosures, these being merely representative examples. It will be appreciated that when the musical instrument is a player piano, there are large numbers of individual keys to be individually actuated, without interference with one another and, at the same time, each must be relatively accurately located. It is also necessary that the solenoids can be assembled for attachment to existing pianos and accommodated therewith in kit form. The prior art systems are not adequate and are too expensive. Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a solenoid mounting assembly for electronic player pianos and other keyboard type instruments which can be mounted in a new or existing piano with the solenoids easily aligned with the individual keys, and wherein the solenoids can be removed for replacement and/or adjustment and in which the solenoids are prevented from scissoring while they are being installed.
The invention provides a solution to the above-mentioned problems by providing an extruded mounting rack having screw slots formed therein, and in a preferred embodiment, there are two screw slots at opposite ends of the extrusion and a central rib carrying a groove therein. Each of the solenoids is provided with a mounting bracket which has a pair of laterally extending flanges being frictionally received in the groove formed in the central rib and the other flange having a nut passing therethrough which is secured in the screw slot.